epub to mobi, italics don't display on kindle

akita328 · 09-03-2019, 03:11 AM

I've tried to search for this problem, but haven't been successful in finding solutions, so here I'm posting.

I have ebooks downloaded from Internet Archive. but there are many errors in the IA epub, so I've been using sigil to clean up the errors and format it, then use calibre to convert epub to mobi, load it up into my Kindle and read it.

Conversion works for the most part, but I have found out that italics style doesn't show up as italics in Kindle, even if it looks okay in all the ebook previewers (except Kindle Previewer. it also fails to show italics).

I have found that if the word is using the following code, the italics shows up in all the previewers correctly, including kindle (this is what Sigil will embed when I convert words into italics while in html mode). simple html italics command:

word in italics

however if it's in this following form, the italics shows up on Sigil previewer, Calibre ebook reader, etc., but when converted to mobi and read through Kindle or Kindle Previewer, the italics do not show up (this is what Sigil will embed when I convert words into italics while in Preview mode/WYSIWYG interface):

word in italics

As far as I can figure out, the format above is correct. so I assume This must be some vintage compatibility issue when converting to mobi that Kindle doesn't recognize? or is there some Calibre setting that I need to turn on for mobi conversion to correclty interpret the italics formatting?

how do I make the word show up as italics when converting the epub to mobi to read in Kindle?

in other books where I converted .azw to epub, then edit and encode back to mobi, kindle seem to display italics using the ok. but that conversion has a lot of calibre-specific style sheet stuff I don't quite understand.

can someone help me understand what I'm doing wrong?
..and yes. I understand basic html coding. but am a newbie.

akita328 · 09-03-2019, 03:24 AM

I directly downloaded epub from Internet Archive.. then have tried to clean up errors (namely simple formatting and scan errors). Not doing anything fancy. I think italics is so basic, it doesn't seem to show up anywhere as error in the log (don't see anything that says "italics" below). here is the conversion log:

Spoiler:

pdurrant · 09-03-2019, 03:28 AM

I suggest you create a small ePub that shows the problem.

kovidgoyal · 09-03-2019, 03:29 AM

Convert to azw3 not mobi and you should be fine.

akita328 · 09-03-2019, 10:44 PM

I tried converting to azw.. used a default setting (since I've never converted to azw before). but it still won't work (actually none of the italics is working).

attached are four screen shots...

1. the html code viewed in the calibre editor (and its previewer showing correct italics)
2. stylesheet.css that is in this epub file (very simple)
3. ebook reader in calibre (showing italics correctly)
3. Kindle Previewer3 using the azw3 conversion (no italics shows up)

I did get an error when trying kindle previewer (and yes. I did manually open the .azw3 file, and not mobi):
"Enhanced Typesetting preview is not supported for this book since the Mobi file that has been created by an older version of Kindlegen or by 3rd party tools..."

I attach the entire epub and the azw3 converted file too. (original epub is a download from Internet Archive, and I'm just trying to clean up the scan errors and typesetting errors so I can read it on my Kindle.. and yes, re-add the italics it lost during the "translation")

Moderator Notice

Removed Copyrighted books. The author only died 10 years ago.
MR is very strict about posting of other peoples work.

kovidgoyal · 09-04-2019, 09:25 PM

Opena bug report and attach the EPUB file.

akita328 · 09-05-2019, 03:57 PM

ok. will do.

09-03-2019, 03:11 AM	#1
akita328 Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2019 Device: kindle, iPad Marvin	epub to mobi, italics don't display on kindle I've tried to search for this problem, but haven't been successful in finding solutions, so here I'm posting. I have ebooks downloaded from Internet Archive. but there are many errors in the IA epub, so I've been using sigil to clean up the errors and format it, then use calibre to convert epub to mobi, load it up into my Kindle and read it. Conversion works for the most part, but I have found out that italics style doesn't show up as italics in Kindle, even if it looks okay in all the ebook previewers (except Kindle Previewer. it also fails to show italics). I have found that if the word is using the following code, the italics shows up in all the previewers correctly, including kindle (this is what Sigil will embed when I convert words into italics while in html mode). simple html italics command: <i>word in italics</i> however if it's in this following form, the italics shows up on Sigil previewer, Calibre ebook reader, etc., but when converted to mobi and read through Kindle or Kindle Previewer, the italics do not show up (this is what Sigil will embed when I convert words into italics while in Preview mode/WYSIWYG interface): <span style="font-style: italic;">word in italics</span> As far as I can figure out, the format above is correct. so I assume This must be some vintage compatibility issue when converting to mobi that Kindle doesn't recognize? or is there some Calibre setting that I need to turn on for mobi conversion to correclty interpret the <span style > italics formatting? how do I make the <span style="font-style: italic;">word </span> show up as italics when converting the epub to mobi to read in Kindle? in other books where I converted .azw to epub, then edit and encode back to mobi, kindle seem to display italics using the <span style..> ok. but that conversion has a lot of calibre-specific style sheet stuff I don't quite understand. can someone help me understand what I'm doing wrong? ..and yes. I understand basic html coding. but am a newbie.

09-03-2019, 03:24 AM	#2
akita328 Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2019 Device: kindle, iPad Marvin	converson log I directly downloaded epub from Internet Archive.. then have tried to clean up errors (namely simple formatting and scan errors). Not doing anything fancy. I think italics is so basic, it doesn't seem to show up anywhere as error in the log (don't see anything that says "italics" below). here is the conversion log: Spoiler: ************ Convert book 1 of 1 (Sorceress of Darshiva (ed)) Conversion options changed from defaults: verbose: 2 output_profile: u'kindle_voyage' cover: u'/var/folders/j7/5yhhz22j5xq5ksk754y0x88r0000gn/C/calibre_3.46.0_tmp_0g13wm/pF7YQm.jpeg' read_metadata_from_opf: u'/var/folders/j7/5yhhz22j5xq5ksk754y0x88r0000gn/C/calibre_3.46.0_tmp_0g13wm/kSRL7S.opf' Resolved conversion options calibre version: 3.46.0 {'asciiize': False, 'author_sort': None, 'authors': None, 'base_font_size': 0.0, 'book_producer': None, 'change_justification': u'original', 'chapter': u"//[((name()='h1' or name()='h2') and re:test(., '\\s((chapter\|book\|section\|part)\\s+)\|((prolog\|pr ologue\|epilogue)(\\s+\|$))', 'i')) or @class = 'chapter']", 'chapter_mark': u'pagebreak', 'comments': None, 'cover': u'/var/folders/j7/5yhhz22j5xq5ksk754y0x88r0000gn/C/calibre_3.46.0_tmp_0g13wm/pF7YQm.jpeg', 'debug_pipeline': None, 'dehyphenate': True, 'delete_blank_paragraphs': True, 'disable_font_rescaling': False, 'dont_compress': False, 'duplicate_links_in_toc': False, 'embed_all_fonts': False, 'embed_font_family': None, 'enable_heuristics': False, 'expand_css': False, 'extra_css': None, 'extract_to': None, 'filter_css': u'', 'fix_indents': True, 'font_size_mapping': None, 'format_scene_breaks': True, 'html_unwrap_factor': 0.4, 'input_encoding': None, 'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x111cb9590>, 'insert_blank_line': False, 'insert_blank_line_size': 0.5, 'insert_metadata': False, 'isbn': None, 'italicize_common_cases': True, 'keep_ligatures': False, 'language': None, 'level1_toc': None, 'level2_toc': None, 'level3_toc': None, 'line_height': 0.0, 'linearize_tables': False, 'margin_bottom': 5.0, 'margin_left': 5.0, 'margin_right': 5.0, 'margin_top': 5.0, 'markup_chapter_headings': True, 'max_toc_links': 50, 'minimum_line_height': 120.0, 'mobi_file_type': u'old', 'mobi_ignore_margins': False, 'mobi_keep_original_images': False, 'mobi_toc_at_start': False, 'no_chapters_in_toc': False, 'no_inline_navbars': True, 'no_inline_toc': False, 'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.KindleVoyageOutput object at 0x111cb9dd0>, 'page_breaks_before': u'/', 'personal_doc': u'[PDOC]', 'prefer_author_sort': False, 'prefer_metadata_cover': False, 'pretty_print': False, 'pubdate': None, 'publisher': None, 'rating': None, 'read_metadata_from_opf': u'/var/folders/j7/5yhhz22j5xq5ksk754y0x88r0000gn/C/calibre_3.46.0_tmp_0g13wm/kSRL7S.opf', 'remove_fake_margins': True, 'remove_first_image': False, 'remove_paragraph_spacing': False, 'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.5, 'renumber_headings': True, 'replace_scene_breaks': u'', 'search_replace': '[]', 'series': None, 'series_index': None, 'share_not_sync': False, 'smarten_punctuation': False, 'sr1_replace': None, 'sr1_search': None, 'sr2_replace': None, 'sr2_search': None, 'sr3_replace': None, 'sr3_search': None, 'start_reading_at': None, 'subset_embedded_fonts': False, 'tags': None, 'timestamp': None, 'title': None, 'title_sort': None, 'toc_filter': None, 'toc_threshold': 6, 'toc_title': None, 'transform_css_rules': '[]', 'unsmarten_punctuation': False, 'unwrap_lines': True, 'use_auto_toc': False, 'verbose': 2} InputFormatPlugin: EPUB Input running on /var/folders/j7/5yhhz22j5xq5ksk754y0x88r0000gn/C/calibre_3.46.0_tmp_0g13wm/ptCCIP.epub Found HTML cover OEBPS/Text/leaf0001.html Parsing all content... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch8.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Styles/stylesheet.css ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch15.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch3.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch21.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch19.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch12.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/leaf0002.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch14.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Prologue.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch2.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch23.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch9.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/leaf0004.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/part0000.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch11.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch6.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch10.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch4.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Section0001.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Section0002.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch17.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch13.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch20.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch1.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/leaf0007.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/leaf0006.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch7.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch22.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Section0003.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch5.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/leaf0005.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch16.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/leaf0008.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Ch18.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Section0004.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/leaf0424.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/intro.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/leaf0001.html ... Referenced file u'OEBPS/Text/part0002.html' not found Referenced file u'OEBPS/Text/part0004.html' not found Referenced file u'OEBPS/Text/part0001.html' not found Referenced file u'OEBPS/Text/part0003.html' not found Reading TOC from NCX... Merging user specified metadata... Detecting structure... Detected chapter: PROLOGUE Detected chapter: Part One - Melcena Detected chapter: CHAPTER ONE Detected chapter: CHAPTER TWO Detected chapter: CHAPTER THREE Detected chapter: CHAPTER FOUR Detected chapter: CHAPTER FIVE Detected chapter: CHAPTER SIX Detected chapter: CHAPTER SEVEN Detected chapter: CHAPTER EIGHT Detected chapter: Part Two - Peldane Detected chapter: CHAPTER NINE Detected chapter: CHAPTER TEN Detected chapter: CHAPTER ELEVEN Detected chapter: CHAPTER TWELVE Detected chapter: CHAPTER THIRTEEN Detected chapter: CHAPTER FOURTEEN Detected chapter: CHAPTER FIFTEEN Detected chapter: Part Three - DARSHIVA Detected chapter: CHAPTER SIXTEEN Detected chapter: CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Detected chapter: CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Detected chapter: CHAPTER NINETEEN Detected chapter: CHAPTER TWENTY Detected chapter: CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Detected chapter: CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Detected chapter: CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Flattening CSS and remapping font sizes... Source base font size is 12.00000pt Removing fake margins... Found 5 items of level: p_4 Found 4698 items of level: p_2 Found 225 items of level: div_2 Found 5 items of level: div_3 Found 43 items of level: div_1 Ignoring level p_4 Ignoring level div_3 p_2 left margin stats: Counter({u'0': 4698}) p_2 right margin stats: Counter({u'0': 4698}) div_2 left margin stats: Counter() div_2 right margin stats: Counter() div_1 left margin stats: Counter({u'': 33}) div_1 right margin stats: Counter({u'': 33}) Cleaning up manifest... Trimming unused files from manifest... Trimming u'OEBPS/Images/picture4.jpg' from manifest Trimming u'OEBPS/Text/leaf0001.html' from manifest Creating MOBI Output... Serializing resources... Creating MOBI 6 output Generating in-line TOC... Applying case-transforming CSS... Parsing manglecase.css ... Parsing tocstyle.css ... Rasterizing SVG images... Converting XHTML to Mobipocket markup... Serializing markup content... Compressing markup content... Generating MOBI index for a book MOBI output written to /var/folders/j7/5yhhz22j5xq5ksk754y0x88r0000gn/C/calibre_3.46.0_tmp_0g13wm/hx4oTq.mobi Last edited by theducks; 09-03-2019 at 11:24 AM. Reason: Please use SPOILER tags for logs

09-03-2019, 10:44 PM	#5
akita328 Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2019 Device: kindle, iPad Marvin	I tried converting to azw.. used a default setting (since I've never converted to azw before). but it still won't work (actually none of the italics is working). attached are four screen shots... 1. the html code viewed in the calibre editor (and its previewer showing correct italics) 2. stylesheet.css that is in this epub file (very simple) 3. ebook reader in calibre (showing italics correctly) 3. Kindle Previewer3 using the azw3 conversion (no italics shows up) I did get an error when trying kindle previewer (and yes. I did manually open the .azw3 file, and not mobi): "Enhanced Typesetting preview is not supported for this book since the Mobi file that has been created by an older version of Kindlegen or by 3rd party tools..." I attach the entire epub and the azw3 converted file too. (original epub is a download from Internet Archive, and I'm just trying to clean up the scan errors and typesetting errors so I can read it on my Kindle.. and yes, re-add the italics it lost during the "translation") Moderator Notice Removed Copyrighted books. The author only died 10 years ago. MR is very strict about posting of other peoples work. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by theducks; 09-04-2019 at 04:38 PM.

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09-03-2019, 03:28 AM	#3
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 71,504 Karma: 306214458 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Voyage	I suggest you create a small ePub that shows the problem.

09-03-2019, 03:29 AM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Convert to azw3 not mobi and you should be fine.

09-04-2019, 09:25 PM	#6
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Opena bug report and attach the EPUB file.

09-05-2019, 03:57 PM	#7
akita328 Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2019 Device: kindle, iPad Marvin	ok. will do.